I'm sure many of you have seen that post on the top of /r/all about RTS games. It started an interesting discussion about the state of RTS games that definitely apply to Age of Empires as well. I certainly had an epiphany. What are your thoughts on this?

RTS games are considered dead by most. And while AoE is doing great I'm still inclined to agree. RTS games have been essentially replaced by Action-RTS games (League of Legends, Defense of the Ancients, Heroes of the Storm, Smite, etc.), sometimes also called MOBA games, but that is a stupid term for the genre as it applies to almost all multiplayer games including RTS games.
RTS games used to be the number one genre of videogames for many. But this was twenty years ago. So what happened?
Action-RTS games are really just RTS games without base building where you control a single main unit (the Hero) with only very few other side units. There is only a single resource, generally gold, functioning as currency. The strategy instead comes from leveling your Hero, choosing the right items against your opponents and acquiring more gold. So, a very simplified RTS game with a clearer approach to victory.
Do you see where this is going? RTS games haven't changed. Hell, the most popular RTS game, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, is just a remake of a twenty year old game. The only thing that changed are the players.
In the modern era RTS games have a very rigid and fast paced meta. Think build orders, rushes, etc. The only way to improve here is with higher APM. The real strategy part of the game can only happen after these points have been reached. And this has caused an absurdly high barrier of entry. It is also very much not enjoyable to some and, as player numbers show, even most people that like to play RTS games.
Back in the day the word meta was unheard of. There were no unified sets of strategies in multiplayer outside of extremely niche circles. Anyone could just hop in, do whatever they wanted and have a reasonable chance of success, provided they were playing well.
Yet this dream still lives on in Action-RTS games.

[opinion]
And this is why Action-RTS games have all but replaced traditional RTS games.
[/opinion]

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition only further enforces these new ideals. With The Art of War, strict ranked matchmaking that's focused purely on improvement and a new AI that is impossible to beat with old school play styles even on the lowest difficulty.
I'm not necessarily saying that anything should be changed. It is what it is and it's fine this way. I'd very much like to hear everyone else's thoughts on this. If you don't already know which thread I'm talking about, please do NOT go looking for it.